Ethereal Island
by BushidoMarimo
Summary: "Ethereal, extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world." That's the new name for the island the Straw Hat Crew has landed on. Zoro has a weird feeling about this but no one heeds his gut feeling. But with the island's beauty on the outside, lies a strange and hostile species on the inside. I know, I suck at summaries but please R&R.
1. Arrival

Hey guys- back at it again with another story (hopefully one that will last). I, uh, don't really know what I'm doing so please help T^T

I NOW COMMENCE THE NEWEST CHAPTER OF A NEW THINGY- SERIES? I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE

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Zoro glared at the island with his one functioning eye. He then turned his dark gaze back towards his unusually optimistic captain.

"Oi, Luffy, you sure this island is safe?"

"Yeah! Look how it sparkles!"

"...that's not what I meant."

"Did I just hear the Marimo's scared?"

"Wow, what a beautiful island."

"Yoho! Truly a sight to see, if I had eyes! Yohohoho!"

The entire Straw Hat Crew was staring at the island before them, the glistening blue sea stretching out as far as the eye could see, but with a large luscious island plopped dead center in the middle of it. The crew had only left the Sabaody Archipelago a week ago and their adventure had already begun.

Luffy inhaled a large breath of the salty air before bellowing out, "CAPTAIN'S ORDERS! We gotta go to that island!" Half of the crew turned towards him with amusement while the other half eyed out the island. Nami brought up her arm to look at the log pose(s) and noticed that the one pointing towards the island was moving sporadically. She glanced up and noticed that Zoro was staring at the log pose with a steely gaze. He looked up and caught her eye, and immediately started talking to Luffy about this 'island'.

"Oi, listen Luffy, I don't know if this is the best idea, we don't even know anything about the island. Plus, it's giving me a weird feeling." Zoro continued. His captain instead ignored his precognition and continued explaining to the crew what's going to happen. Luffy then began running around with Usopp and Chopper, playing tag while waiting for their 'pirate lunchboxes' were being made by the shitty cook. He glared at the carefree trio and he was about to talk to them about the 'pros and cons' list but he felt a slight tug on his shoulder. He looked to his left, craning his neck to look at the hand on his shoulder. It was Nami's.

"You know there's no stopping him once he gets an 'idea'." she sighed in defeat. Zoro's eyebrow arched just a tad higher at her and brushed off her hand.

"Yeah, I know." Zoro leaves it at that and walks away from the conversation before running into Robin.

"Oh, sorry Zoro-san. Looks like you're right, this is a new island. It hasn't been discovered by anyone before today. Maybe you should get some rest, we'll be setting out soon." she gave him a sincere smile before walking away.

He nodded and briskly walked away towards the mast. Zoro's one eye relaxed and he found himself kind of drifting off, staring at the beautiful green island. Before he knew it, he found himself wandering over to his special napping spot and plopped down. Zoro stretched out his back, hearing a satisfying crack as he drifted off into sleep. _Well, I tried. It could be worse though._

* * *

Hey guys so as you know, I haven't posted in a while and I have decided to discontinue "Tsunami". I don't really know what to do with it but if any of you want to continue it and post it, go ahead. I'm sure it will be great! Anyways, please R&R and don't be afraid to leave constructive criticism because that's greatly appreciated. Criticism? Sure. Complements? Great! Questions? Totally accepted! Thanks!


	2. Akuma

Hey guys, author (I guess) speaking. If you have any advice for me please don't be afraid to tell me. I prefer PM's but a general message is pretty good too. Lemme know what you think!

 _Italics:_ Zoro's internal turmoil- I mean thoughts. :))

 _ **Bold Italics**_ : Flashback

That's kinda all you need to know- enjoy! (ish...I guess. If you want to)

* * *

 _I was wrong, it couldn't have been worse back then. It's MUCH worse now._ Zoro glared at the person in front of him, screaming about how irritating the island was with all of its thick underbrush and the bugs. He sulked even further when he thought about what happened.

" _ **Oi Zoro, we gotta make the parties. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up." Luffy repeated.**_

" _ **ALRIGHT! I'm up. Now what." Zoro stated irritably while lazily getting to his feet. The rest of the crew assembled to be near the captain as he began speaking. Luffy looked up with sparkling eyes,**_

" _ **M'kay, so you guys know I wanna go to the island right?" Everyone nodded their heads slowly.**_

" _ **And you know how we love adventuring right?" Once again, everyone nodded.**_

" _ **But you also know how there's trouble like, all the time right?" Everyone cast sideways glances and had the same thought.**_ **What is our captain thinking?** _**Luffy looked at them individually and continued,**_

" _ **I came up with an idea, and we're gonna make parties to help keep everyone safe okay?" Zoro snorted, Sanji coughed, Nami and Robin raised an eyebrow, Brook hummed, Franky just kinda stood there, and Usopp and Chopper started crying tears of happiness.**_

" _ **I already made the group and this is what it is," Luffy continued as he brought out a piece of paper with drawn images of the crew. However, it is Luffy, so they looked like random scribbly lines with color. Luffy pointed to the red and black squiggly figures,**_

" _ **Sanji and I are on the hunting party, we gotta go get food and meat!" then he pointed at a pink, white, and yellow figure,**_

" _ **Usopp, Brook, and Chopper are on the 'Feel better' party and get all those weird plants to help us, and Franky and Robin are on the 'Look for history thingies' team, which leaves…"**_

 _OF COURSE IT'S ME TO GET STUCK WITH THE SHITTY SEA WITCH._ Zoro glowered as he watches the woman bring out her telescope thing to document the island.

"ZORO! HAND ME MY TOOLS!" Nami yells over her shoulder. Zoro juts out his lower lip in a pout and furrows his eyebrows as he goes to grab her tools from her bag. _I ain't no one's shitty slave. I am NOT like the shitty cook, and I don't want to grab your shitty tools._ Zoro stops and sits down against a large tree, and glares at her.

"No, I don't wanna. You can get it. I'm not like curly-que, I'm not your slave."

"I SWEAR TO GOD RORONOA ZORO, I NEED MY TOOLS NOW. GIVE ME MY TOOLS! Or...do I have to remind you about your steadily increasing-"

"FINE! I'll get your shitty tools! Just stop charging me for things already, I told you that I already paid that off! I swear Nami, if you don't end up in Hell I will personally kick your ass down there."

"Riiiight, looking forward to it!" Nami exclaims with a smile as Zoro starts to walk back towards her bag. But before he goes to grab the bag, he feels a presence with his observation haki. _An object? What kind? SHIT!_ An extremely fast object hurtling straight towards Nami's head. Zoro sprints to knock her down flat before a wooden spear with a sharpened tip impales her head.

"WHAT THE FU-?!" Nami starts before Zoro tackles her down and covers her mouth with his hand. With his other hand, he motions the universal 'SHUT UP' sign and stands up slowly. Zoro looks around the dark underbrush, suddenly the forest seemed much darker and denser than before. He senses an animal? A human? _Something_ that feels like a beast.

"Nami, pull out your Clima tact _very_ slowly and quietly. We're being watched." Zoro says calmly as his gaze sharpens. He hears Nami gulp and slowly draw out her weapon. Zoro does the same, unsheathing Shusui and Kitetsu III while backing up slowly to be back to back with Nami.

"Zoro, what the hell?! There's nothing here!" Nami exclaims. Zoro turns towards her with a wide eye and sees a figure in the tree.

"Nami! Roll left!" he commands.

"What? Why?!" she asks. She turns around to find a large figure in the tree, and screams. She does what Zoro said and rolls to the left as the figure's tail sweeps over where her body was just a second before.

"SEVENTY-TWO POUND PHOENIX!" Zoro exclaims as he launches his blue aerial strike towards the humanoid. The humanoid obviously didn't expect it, and was hit by the slice, the flying slash splitting open the chest and causing a neon orange substance to come gushing out. The figure released a tortured scream before slumping over a large root.

"What. The. FUCK." Nami says with wide eyes. Zoro looks over at the thing he just killed, and immediately dubbed it to be 'Akuma', or 'Demon'. He studies the figure and notes that it has a very large muscular build, about seven or eight feet, and parts of it are covered in a type of skin armor. Then he studies the face, or at least, where the face _should_ be. The 'face' is just a dark mass, with a large mouth and sharp teeth. _It has carnivorous teeth, it must've been hungry to try to eat me. Stupid Akuma._

"Nami, we gotta get outta here. We should keep moving, hopefully there was only one, but I'm sure there's plenty. I can feel it." Zoro states as he stares at the body. Nami nods and packs up her tools in her backpack, and they begin to move away. Just as Zoro turns and takes a few steps, he feels a piercing pain in his right calf.

"Hnng!" he flinches. Nami turns around, but Zoro motions to keep moving. When he turns around he sees the tail of the humanoid thing he just _killed_ impaled in his calf. He grabs the tail and rips it out of his calf, leaving a pretty ghastly hole with his blood spurting out. Drawing Shusui, he splits the tail in half. Leaving the dismembered part to squirm around while still leaking its neon orange substance.

* * *

And that concludes Chapter 2.

Zoro: I would never flinch from such a minor injury.

Straw Hat Pirates: Yeah. Have you seen his injuries?!

BM: Yes...I have. Fine, you proved your point. Readers please R&R!

Zoro: Wait. Are people reading this crap?

BM: No, obviously. But it's only the beginning!

Zoro: But will anyone _ever_ consider to read it?

BM: ...probably not...


	3. Excuses

Hey guys, wow I actually wrote another chapter. Sorry the chapters are so short, it's just that that is probably how this story is gonna go. I mean, I'm only used to writing short stories that don't even have chapters in the first place so...bear with me please. Alright, Chapter 3 is now in session!

* * *

Sanji turns around and stares at the underbrush to the left of him. His eye narrows. _Nami-san? Is she in trouble?_

"Oi, Sanji."

Sanji snaps out of his concerns and turns back towards Luffy, his eyebrow pulled into the center of his forehead in alarm.

"Oi you shitty gomu. You heard that...right?" Sanji surveys the area around them again before turning back to where the scream came from. Luffy nods in agreement, and then looks towards the same direction Sanji is starring in. He then turns around and continues on his path, dragging his "prey" behind him. He waves his hand back towards Sanji.

"Don't worry. She's with Zoro. Zoro's strong and whatever attacked them screamed too. So...Zoro must have killed it. You think it's edible?" Sanji scoffs in mild irritation and speed walks back towards the path, being sure not to lose his captain.

"Shhhhiii…" Zoro hisses as his calf seizes up on him...AGAIN. Nami turns around and watches with concern as Zoro limps his way through the underbrush, hacking away at everything that got in his way. _There must be something wrong. He's limping...Zoro NEVER limps._ eZoro looks up and sees her staring at him and he glares at her.

"Zoro, do you want to take a break? You're limping and you're kind of out of breath...you okay?" Nami asks, concern lacing every word. Zoro takes a deep breath and nods before wincing again. _Dammit...the burning sensation is spreading. Why is the air getting thicker? It's harder to breathe._ He looks at the back of his calf, but since he was wearing black pants, you can't see anything. _If anything. I'll just blame it on Nami and take the time to bandage it properly before heading back to the ship._

"Fine. We can rest, but only because you keep whining and complaining and quite frankly I'm sick of it." He comments irritably. Zoro draws Kitetsu III before cutting down a nearby tree to have a stump to sit on. Nami flinches as the giant tree comes crashing down, and multiple birds flock away from the area because of the loud crash.

Zoro sits down on the freshly cut stump and dumps his backpack on it. _Gotta think of an excuse to go bandage it. THINK ZORO._ Zoro feels his forehead heating up from the thinking he's doing, and Nami almost questions whether or not he's okay again before he abruptly stands up.

"Gotta piss…" he grumbles and walks away.

"Um, didn't need to know that. DON'T GET LOST! I MEAN IT!" She yells after his retreating figure. She sees a very rude gesture pop up and face towards her. Nami turns around and smiles to herself.

"Shit! What the hell?!" Zoro asks himself as he looks as his calf. The gouged out area of his calf is gray around the puncture wound, and the veins around it are turning gray as well. He also notices it's spreading, the veins that are about four inches from the puncture have turned gray, but every now and then glow orange and sometimes even spews the orange gunk with his own human blood. Zoro rips off a part of his pants from the middle of his shin on the opposite leg and rips it apart into makeshift bandages. He then wraps his calf, trying to staunch the bleeding. But as soon as the cloth touches his skin, the burning sensation grows stronger, and almost gets him to grunt in pain. Attempting to ignore the burning sensation that's quickly spreading over his body and the shortness of his breath, he quickly bandages the leg and slowly tries to stand up.

Zoro leans onto his swords and limps towards the clearing again before hearing the bushes rustle. He pauses and quickly unsheathes Shusui and gets into a battle stance.

Sanji and Luffy crash through the underbrush, trying to find their way back to the Sunny, Breathing heavily, Sanji continues running, not running from anything in particular, but just hurrying up to bring back the meat for dinner. Suddenly, Luffy stops dead in his tracks and Sanji stops as well. Sanji turns around to look at Luffy and ask why he stopped, but paused when he saw his eyes. The pupils were dilated and his eyes were narrow. Sanji stopped and focused just as Luffy focused when he could sense something.

A beast. Something immensely strong, something that was just as strong as or even stronger than himself. _Shit. What the hell IS that?_ Sanji brings out a cigarette and his golden lighter and exhales a puff of smoke, igniting his leg as well. Luffy looks at Sanji and nods, signaling Sanji to take whatever it is out. Sanji nods back and rushes to the bushes, crashing through the thicket and jumps into midair. The beast turns around and lets a loud shout, it sounds as though the beast recognizes the burning man in midair.

"CURLY?!" Zoro shouts as he hesitates to swing his sword at what he thought was going to be another Akuma and rolls to the right, wincing as he has to move his injured leg. Sanji's leg slams into the ground, in the area that Zoro was in just moments before.

"What the HELL? Stop!" Zoro yells irritably and swings his sword. Sanji ducks and looks up to recognize the "beast" he was sensing was actually just Zoro.

"Tch...I thought it was a beast, but it was just a marimo that was lost." Sanji stated disappointedly. A large tic formed on Zoro's left brow as his eyebrow started twitching and he began to grind his teeth.

" _What_ did you just say?" Zoro hisses at the cook. Sanji sniggers and immediately heats his leg up into a Diable Jambe again.

"You wanna go, Marimo?" Sanji taunts. Zoro almost looks happy to comply before his left leg buckles beneath him and Zoro lets out a soft wheeze, as though he's struggling to get air into his lungs. His face turns pale as his skin begins to sweat a bit more than before, and it wasn't because of the heat. Sanji notices his bandaged leg and is about to ask but Zoro shuts him up before he could utter a single word.

"Don't ask. Weird- _huff_ \- animal human guy with a tail. Attacked us. Got stabbed straight through the calf - _huff-_. Gotta get back to Nami. Don't tell. She doesn't need to know." Zoro grits out through his short labored breaths.

"Alright Marimo, but if I gotta save your sorry ass, well, I'm not gonna do it."

"As if I'd need _your_ help with my issues. I can - _huff_ \- do it myself." Zoro slowly regains his legs, standing up and leaning on Shusui. Sanji stands to the side and observes, watching as Zoro continues to struggle even after he got back up.

"Well, seeing you're clearly injured, I should go protect Nami while Luffy gets you back to the ship." Zoro looks up to see Sanji pull out a den den mushi and exhale a puff of smoke.

"Oi, Luffy, get your ass over here, we got a Marimo that's lost and a beautiful woman that needs my protection! Get the shitty Marimo to get back to the boat while I escort Nami-san back."

"Roger that! ZORO! I'm coming to getcha okay?" Luffy all but whispers over the den den mushi and hangs up. Sanji puts the den den mushi back into his pocket and looks up towards Zoro to confirm what has been heard and Zoro nods.

* * *

Ooh! He has been found by Sanji! What a bromance, am I right? No? Alright...

By the way, I don't ship Zoro and Sanji, but it's not because I don't support the LGBTQ+ community, it's just that it's not happening. So if you're hoping for ZoSan or whatever, it ain't happening in this story. Sorry fangirls and fanboys! Although I totally approve of their brotherly conflicts and attitudes and just because they're rivals in general! DON'T FORGET TO R&R PLEASE! Thanks! :))


	4. Spreading

Oop. Chapter 4 is up! Thanks to all those that have viewed or read it so far (which is few, which is also to be expected). Uh, I received a review from a guest and I decided to make this a ZoNa story. It's not gonna be super "romance-y" and it's just super light. Anyways- here goes Chapter 4!

* * *

Zoro draws in another breath and sits on another tree stump and waits for Luffy to arrive. _Why is it that whenever we get to another island, there's always some kind of danger that follows us around? At least the Marines haven't followed us here._ He lets out a sigh and hears a loud crash in the distance. _May have spoken too soon._

"ZOOOOOOOOOOROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" An extremely familiar voice yells, scaring many flocks of birds off the island. Once again, Zoro sighs, waiting for his captain to come crashing through... _3...2...1…_

"ZORO! I FOUND YOUUUUUU!" Luffy comes crashing out of the bushes and grabs Zoro by the waist and blasts off in his Second Gear.

"Oi, Luffy. Wait. I'm seeing a pattern here. I better not fuckin' hit the ship I swear to GOD!" Zoro screams as Luffy "rockets" his way back to the ship which took a total of...3.845 seconds. Of course, this also means that Zoro didn't get his way and his head smashed right through the deck of the Thousand Sunny, almost like Franky's supplex.

"...I swear I will _kill_ you someday... _I swear it_ …"

"Nahahahahahahahahaha! Sorry Zoro! Hey, did you see earlier? There's Marines! They found the island! I don't think they know we're here yet though so-!"

"Wait. You said the _Marines_ are here. Did you see them? Do they have a ship docked?" Zoro's eyes narrow into slits.

"Ye- wait. HOLY SHIT THE MARINES ARE HERE!" Luffy yells. He then proceeds to run around the deck screaming, which causes the rest of the crew that came back to walk on deck. Franky, Brooke, Usopp, and Chopper walk out of the men's cabins looking sleepy and lazy.

"Bro, we were taking a nap after walking around all morning...what's the racket?..." Franky yawns and rubs a droopy eye. Zoro explains the situation to them and within two minutes of hearing what's been going on (which included talking about the Akuma, but he didn't tell them he got stabbed), they were up and screaming just as Luffy had only moments before. With all of the screaming, Robin, Nami and Sanji emerged from the kitchen, two of the three asking "what the HELL is going one?!" and the other watching in amusement.

"All this means is that we have to be more careful when we explore, keep an eye out for the Marines, we should probably find an area to hide Sunny better. Oi, Luffy, do you agree?" Zoro asks. Luffy gives his trademark grin, his smile stretching from one ear to another.

"Nope! Zoro has good instincts and can take care of himself."

"Urgh, alright. But we still must have some level of caution. This area isn't safe with all the weird shit going on and now with the Marines. Just be cautious, that's all I'm asking." he says with a shrug. Everyone nods in understanding before breaking up to go and fix their bags for their next exploration of the island.

* * *

Zoro wanders towards the men's cabin, trying not to limp while walking. To his disadvantage, it's pretty noticeable. You can't hide a limp too well when your leg has been impaled, now can you? If you know anyone, please, enlighten me. He continues to limp to the cabin and closes the door, locking it behind him and wincing as he moves towards his bunk. He sets down his swords next to his hammock as he peels the makeshift bandage away again.

Looking at the damn thing, it looks like Hell has settled into his leg. The gray discoloration has spread all the way up to his kneecap, and all the veins in the area has turned a fluorescent orange and with each pulse of Zoro's hammering heart, he can watch as the hole leaks out a yellow colored pus that almost hisses with each time it comes out. Zoro throws his "bandage" off to the side of the room, and cringes when it makes a wet splattering sound once it hits the floor. Zoro then brings out his backpack and takes out his bandages that Chopper gave him before the excursion, as well as hydrogen peroxide, a chemical that disinfects cuts. He grits his teeth as he pours the peroxide on his cut, grunting as the chemical begins to hiss as soon as it touched his wound.

 _God DAMN this stings!_ He squeezes his eye shut, as he pours a little bit more onto his wound before giving up in a huff. The burning sensation has come back, fighting the peroxide and it grows from his leg all the way up towards his lower abdomen and settles there. Zoro gags at the burning in his stomach and dry heaves multiple times before he slowly stands up, leaning on a wall for support. His lungs constrict, leaving him almost gasping for air. He packs his bag up, but with each time he moves, a wave of nausea hits him and his leg begins to cramp.

After getting everything back in his bag, he staggers his way to the door. _Shit! I can't breathe! I can't knockout in front of them!_ So, with those thoughts in mind, Zoro does the only thing he can do. He falls asleep.

* * *

Nami watches as Zoro walks into the men's quarters, and then closes the door. _I really know there's something wrong. He keeps limping and he tries to play it off but it's too obvious. I wonder if he got hurt?_ Nami bites her lower lip, debating on whether or not to check on him and ultimately decides to go talk to him about it. She takes one step forward and is immediately blocked by a noodling man.

"NAMI-SWAAAN! Don't concern yourself with the shitty Marimo! He's probably just sleeping! How about I make you a drink? Or a dessert? Or a sandwich?" Sanji exclaims as heart eye grows towards her. She sighs, and looks at him with a bored expression, but nonetheless orders her Orange Special and a dessert.

"Right away Nami-swan!" With that, Sanji ran off into the kitchen with Nami following behind him. The two enter the kitchen where Sanji swiftly makes Nami's orange special and makes her vanilla ice cream to complement the drink. Sanji takes in a long drag of his cigarette before exhaling a puff of smoke.

"Nami-san, are you okay? You look concerned about something…" Sanji stares at her chocolatey eyes while he hands her the drink and ice cream.

"Yeah, Zoro has been limping lately and it looks like he got hurt...I...I really hope he didn't get hurt earlier, he saved my life when we found those...Akuma things." Tears began welling up in Nami's eyes.

"Look, I'm sure the Marimo's fine, he's a tough guy, and you know it. He probably just tripped or something," Sanji responds in a soothing way, "even if he did get hurt, he would talk to Chopper about it right?"

"Mm, you're right. He should be- "

 _THUD_

"- Sanji-kun, did you hear that?" Nami's eyes widened slightly before she charged out of the room.

"NAMI-SAN WAIT!" Sanji yells after her, he then begins jogging the path that Nami took towards the men's cabin.

* * *

Welp, this is how it ended so far. Please R&R! I would really like some feedback on how to make it better and stuff. Thanks a lot guys :))


	5. Fallen Swordsman

EYyyyyyyYYEYYeyyyyy, what's up my dudes. I'm back from the dead. Nah, I just had writer's block and I also had an ass load of schoolwork. Sorry! Here's Chapter 5...I think?

* * *

 _Aw fuck, just what I need. Right when Nami-san and I were about to have a lovely conversation that Zoro will be okay something falls. I really hope it's not bad._ Sanji's left eyebrow dips slightly in concern for the guy. He may act like he absolutely despises Zoro, but deep down they both know that they share a bond that burns with the flavours of rivalry and brotherhood. Although, from the outsiders viewpoints, it seems that the violence that occurs between the two is their own language aside from insults.

Sanji holds his breath for what he imagines could possibly be waiting behind that door. _One of Usopp's experiments could have gone off and knocked something over...no, he doesn't work in the men's room. Chopper could have tripped while eating cotton candy again...no, Chopper didn't get any cotton candy today. Franky could have thrown something again? No, he wouldn't damage the ship. Luffy- no, he's lying on the grass right there. Brook definitely could have done something, I just hope it's not the shitty Marimo._ Sanji runs in front of Nami, almost protectively, before twisting the knob. It's locked.

"Oi! Open up you shitty Marimo!" Sanji all but yells. When he receives no response from the other side, his stomach plummets.

"FRANKY! I'm gonna bust the men's cabin door!" Sanji yells over his shoulder. This gets Franky's attention immediately and makes him yell in disagreement.

"OW! YOU BETTER NOT!" As Franky runs across the deck Sanji prepares to kick it down, but Franky interferes before his beautifully crafted door gets smashed into splinters. Using his small hand, Franky inserts a key he pulled out from his abdomen and the door handle twists with a click. Sanji almost falls into the room after slamming against the door and trips over a large pile of laundry before he actually _does_ fall face first into the ground. Talk about elegant.

Nami quickly flips on the switch to find that Zoro was indeed on the ground, face down. A small puddle of blood forming around his left calf, and some more drops of blood that lead from Zoro's hammock to the position he's in now. Nami's breath catches in her throat before she sits down next to his body.

"Hey, Zoro. Wake up. Hey." She nudges him with the edge of her sandal before she starts to worry a little bit more.

"Zoro? Wake up. We have to go to Chopper's. You're injured." This time she nudges him with her hand. Once again, she receives no response. She leans down next to his face and listens to his faint ragged breaths, and sees sweat pouring down from his forehead. _Injury, or internal suffering?_ Nami begins to asses his wound, not touching it, but looking at the area around the bandage before she notices the gray skin spreading. She turns to look Sanji dead in the eye.

"Sanji-kun, he needs to see Chopper right now, his breathing is too shallow, he's not responding, he's bleeding, he's- !" She gets cut off by her own hyperventilation. More tears begin to well up in her eyes and start breaking through, falling down her fair cheeks and down her chin before they come to an abrupt end on the floor. _He can't be hurt, not because of me! He's like a protective older brother that always helps the younger siblings but can't take care of himself!_ That thought alone sent her into hysterics, causing her to begin sobbing before she feels a hand tug on hers. Without Nami noticing, somehow the entire crew ended up in the men's cabin to see what the commotion was about and finding their fallen swordsman (literally).

"Nami-san, come on, let's go to the aquarium. Luffy caught a new fish and it looks quite interesting. Wouldn't you like to see it?" Robin pulls her to her feet before leading her away from Zoro and the rest of the crew. Nami hiccups and sniffles, but nods, hoping that Zoro will be okay.

* * *

Sanji ran to get Chopper as soon as Nami began crying, and along with Chopper came the rest of the crew, concerned about what was happening. After assembling, Robin led Nami away to the aquarium to help calm her down by showing her the new fish Luffy caught. This provided room for Chopper to hurriedly move Zoro into his medical exam room to asses what's going on.

"We need to move him into the medical bay! His leg is bleeding pretty bad, but I don't know what the actual wound looks like. Sanji-"

"Right." Sanji immediately begins to help Chopper lift the muscle bound man, and they both shuffle their way into the medical bay. Sanji kicks the door wide open while they continue to shuffle their way in and they both dump the swordsman's body on the bed. Zoro grunts and winces as he feels his body hit the infirmary bed. Sanji backs away from the bed to allow Chopper some room to work. Chopper grabs a pair of scissors and begins to cut Zoro's pants up to the knee to see what kind of wound has made its mark on their swordsman.

"Sanji, get me a bucket please."

"On it."

Sanji pulls up a metal bucket and places it next to Chopper and he throws the cut off pieces of Zoro's shorts into it. The cloth falls into the bucket with a wet _plop_ , leaving a couple red-orange streaks on the sides. Sanji looks into the bucket, _what the fuck, why is it orange?_

"SHIT!" the word itself isn't too startling, but what is startling is _who_ said it. Chopper's eyes are wide with confusion and fear as he looks into Zoro's wound. The wound is festering, a neon orange pus forming around the glistening red hole in Zoro's calf. Within that wound, a small nub sticks out, it almost looks like a tail. Sanji gags at the acrid smell of the wound and quickly excuses himself out of the room. Normally he has a pretty okay tolerance of nasty things (I mean, he saw Granny Kokoro in nothing but a shell bra), but this was on another level.

Chopper's stare intensifies as he sees the nub sticking out start to move, and burrow itself deeper in Zoro's calf. As if on cue, Zoro grimaced and let out a pained yell. _What_ is _that?!_ Chopper looks to his tray and then at the door and then back to Zoro. _I need help with this one. But who do I ask?_ Chopper quickly runs out the door onto the deck,

"I need help, I need someone in there to help me with this operation, it's not going to be easy…" He looks around, and everyone raises their hands to help their swordsman, but the first person to raise their hand is none other than their navigator herself. Even after her slight breakdown, she feels as if she must do this, and no one else except for her and Chopper.

"I'll help! I-i can do it, I don't care what anyone else suh-says."

"Nami-san are you sure? I think I should do it, it's pretty bad in there."

"Yes, thank you for your concern Sanji-kun, but I think I'll be alright."

Nami and Chopper run back into the room to find an even bigger mess than when Chopper left. Blood was now seeping out of the wound and mixing with the orange pus to drip down from the infirmary bed onto the floor. Nami's eyes immediately flash away from the trail of bodily fluids to the wound in Zoro's calf.

 _I knew it you big idiot. Why couldn't you just say you got injured?!_

"Okay Nami, if you look in his wound, you'll see a small nub." Nami looks at it and winces as a new gush of blood seeps out of the wound. She spots it.

"Okay? I see it. Now what?"

"Well, I need you to pull it out…"

"S-sure...wait WHAT?!"

"I know it's crazy, but I need to clean up the wound because if you look," Chopper lifts up Zoro's pants a little higher, "you can see that there's something spreading. I need to start with the cleaning solution. Please." Nami gulps, and her chin wrinkles a little bit, but she nods. Chopper hands her a pair of large tweezers, but they look more like tongs, and she begins to insert it into the wound to grab the nub. The pinchers close around the nub and it screeches, an alien-like screech no one has heard before.

Her heart begins pounding in her chest as she hears the swordsman let out a blood curdling scream as his body finally, actually, goes limp instead of being tense. Nami proceeds with grabbing the nub and pulls it out, only to find it's only a section, and that this _thing_ is more like a long worm. Nami continues to pull it out as Chopper is applying his antiseptics to the wound, which only causes the creature to flail and thrash, and causes Nami to almost lose it as the worm tries to burrow itself in Zoro's calf even more. _Not today you little BITCH!_

Nami pinches down on the worm with renewed energy and steps back, stepping farther and farther while pulling the worm out of Zoro's wound. Neon orange pus spurts out of the crevices around the worm and she lets out a yell when the entire worm pops out with a _squelch_. Nami's gasping for air, the creature writhes on the ground and screeches, an orange slime coats its body and it measures almost six inches in length with half an inch in diameter. A new substance begins to leak out of the stressed worm, but this time it begins to burn the adam wood deck in the infirmary room.

"CHOPPER?! WHAT THE _FUCK_ IS THAT?! KILL IT! KILL IT! UGH!"

"I-I DON'T KNOW NAMI! AH! IT'S BURNING THE GROUND!"

The duo, completely forgetting about their patient, begun panicking while trying to beat the living shit out of a highly acidic worm that was trying to burrow itself in Zoro's body. The commotion finally ended when Sanji burst into the room wondering what his Nami- _swan_ was screaming about before he burned and kicked the worm into death.

" _Huff-_ what was _-huff-_ that thing?" Sanji rested his hands on his knees with his head bowed, Chopper sat in one of the only spots in the room without bodily fluids or worm fluids while Nami collapsed into the doctor's chair. They were worn out, but looking at Zoro, he looked much more at ease, other than the gaping hole in his leg but hey, he's been through worse. After a few minutes, Chopper applied a more powerful antiseptic which caused the wound to hiss, but it was worth it to clean. He then applied gauze and bandages while Nami and Sanji washed and mopped the floors.

Once all the duties were done, there was still one left. The worm. Sanji suggested that they use it as food for the fish in the tank while Nami said that they burn it, but Chopper suggested they keep it for scientific study. However after a lot of convincing (and threatening) by Nami, they decided to burn it.

* * *

Alright, that's a wrap of Chapter 5! Hope this is still kind of interesting for you guys.

Zoro: HEY HEY HEY! Why is it that in your stories I'm always dying or getting hurt?

BM: Zoro, hunny, it's because I love you .3.

Zoro: Ugh, gross. That does _not_ make sense.

BM: Heehee! You don't need to understand my sadistic thoughts .3.


	6. Worms and Marines?

Hey guyyyyysssss, thank you to those that have stuck around this long- I know I haven't been consistent. School has been a bitch lately, especially with studying for final exams. Thank you so so sooooo much! I love you all, and hope I can keep you interested ;))

* * *

Nami brushed a large piece of her hair out from her line of vision and finally, is able to sigh in relief. After ten minutes of burning that weird-ass worm in the infirmary (it was contained, so it was _kinda_ safe), it had finally turned into a pile of disgusting powdery ash. Sanji quickly disposed of the remains while Chopper made sure no one inhaled any of the alien "flesh powder" he called it. She turns towards the door of the infirmary and walks out, anxious to tell the rest of the crew the good news.

"GUYS! WE GOT IT OUT! WE GOT OUT THAT DAMN PIECE OF-" then she paused, her face falling as her hands quickly clap over her mouth. _Oh crap, I haven't told them anything regarding the weird alien worm._ The other Straw Hats slowly walked up towards the nervous navigator and began to ask her questions.

"Huh? What'd you guys get out Nami?"

"What do you mean lil' sis?"

"Nami-san, could you possibly mean you took out your panties?"

Everyone quickly smacked the perverted skeleton over the head before Nami could deliver the death blow.

"NO YOU DAMN PERV!" She screamed as she drop kicked the skeleton into the mast. As he collapsed on the ground, his body was shaking and convulsing. If you listened closely you could hear his fantasies being muttered under his breath. The crew sweat dropped at the sight before turning back to Nami.

"What were you talking about again?" Luffy asked, his head tilting slightly as his mouth pulled into a slight frown. Nami flinches as the corners of her mouth turn upwards in an awkward smile.

"W-whaaat? There's nothing really...i-it's fine to be quite honest...w-we're great in there..." she trails off as she waves her hands in front of her body as she shakes her head. Before further questioning from the crew, she quickly draws out:

"Hey, I think Chopper needs some help with the uh- cleaning up after the operation. See you!" Nami hastily steps back into the infirmary and closes the door with a sharp bang. Meanwhile, the remaining Straw Hats (Luffy, Usopp, Robin, Franky, and Brook) look at each other in confusion. Usopp decides to break the silence.

"Anyone know what that was about?" The rest of the crew simply shrugs their shoulders and continue on with their daily routines, leaving the door of the infirmary shut tight.

* * *

"Vice Admiral Aamia! New intel to report!" A scrawny Marine cadet steps towards a slim woman sitting on a throne.

"Yes cadet? Permission to report." Her ruby red lips curve upwards in an unnatural way.

"R-right. We have confirmation- the Straw Hat Crew is definitely on this island." The cadet stammers.

"Oh? Is that so? What evidence do you have for such a... _bold_ statement? Hm? I don't believe just _anyone_ can invade my beautiful paradise and not be unscathed." Her emerald eyes glimmer in the darkness surrounding her.

"W-we uh, found a piece of clothing that we believe is _his_." This statement alone peaks the woman's interest, her eyebrows raising a fraction as her eyes shown a brighter shade of green.

"Is that so? Bring me it and _I_ shall determine this for myself!"

"R-right away ma'am!" The cadet shuffles away and scampers out the doorway. Vice Admiral Aamia steps off of her throne, her coat resting lazily on her lips.

"Mmm, if it really _is_ him, maybe I can- NO! I _will_ make him mine!" Aamia giggles hysterically as she paces around her chamber, anxiously awaiting the stupid cadet. Soon, said cadet walks in holding a soaked black rag. Aamia settles back in her throne as she stares at the partially shredded piece of clothing. She quickly snatches the rag out of the cadets hand and he shrinks back towards the exit before running out yelping.

"Hm? It's wet. There's an orange substance on this article of clothing, however- " She inhales deeply, taking in the smell. "there is also blood. But there's no mistake! His scent! It's still here! Ah! You'll soon be mine! I'll track you down...Roronoa Zoro!" she squeals as she clutches the wrecked piece of clothing.

* * *

"GAH!"

Zoro bolts upright from the infirmary bed as a cold shiver wracks his spine. Gasping, he wipes his brow to find a cool layer of sweat. He suddenly remembers- his leg. Zoro quickly rips off the white sheet from himself to find that his leg is expertly bandaged and healing. _Damn Chopper, you did a great job_. He grins as he thinks about all the scenarios of him being bandaged and Chopper tending to him. As he was reminiscing, he heard a large crash as glass smashed against the floor, causing him to jump. Zoro looks towards the source of the sound to see a stupid curly-que staring at him with surprise obviously etched on his face. Sanji's eye was as wide as it could possibly be with his mouth gaping.

"MARIMO?!"

"Careful Prince of Moronica, you keep your mouth open like that and an unholy bug might fly in."

Zoro turns his head in another direction as he hears another crash, but thankfully no glass shattered. He flinched again due to the noise that it created, but when he looked up he saw Chopper holding an empty tray with bloodied tongs on the floor.

"Hey Chopper- !" Chopper quickly runs at Zoro and squeezes him as tears pour out of his endearing eyes.

"Z-zoro! It was horrible! You had a worm in your leg- and there was orange stuff- and blood was pouring out- and Nami had to take it out- and we had to-" But Zoro cut him off.

"Wait. _Nami_ took _what_ out of my leg?" he asks, his face turning a slight shade of green.

"N-nami had to t-take a w-w-worm out of y-your leg." Chopper sniffles. Zoro turns a darker shade of green as he imagined it.

"Stop. No more of that." Zoro shakes his head, immediately taking the image out of his head. The trio look up as their navigator stumbles in, slamming the door behind her.

"Guys- we're gonna have to talk to the crew about," she stops abruptly as her eyes lay on the now very awake swordsman.

"He- when did he- ZORO!" She exclaims as she runs over to hug him. He stares at her running figure and immediately braces himself for the blow. She surprisingly slows down and just wraps her arms around him slowly.

"Just so you know- you got blood on my shoes. So that's an extra 300,000 berries." She lets go of him and stares into his face with an innocent smile. Zoro's vein sticks out of his forehead before yelling and screaming about how "oh you'll burn in hell someday" and "greedy witch" mixed along with "if you don't end up in hell I'll kick you down there". Of course, those words just went in one ear and out the other, resulting in an even angrier Zoro. Chopper makes amends by butting in.

"What are we gonna tell the crew? We have to let them know so that they can be aware of this too!"

"Right, Zoro and I will tell them since we need to go over a recap of the Akuma things as well. Maybe when Zoro feels better to use his leg." Nami continues.

"Mm, alright. But I'm just gonna lay here for now, it's nice, being able to sleep without pain." Before Nami, Chopper, or Sanji say anything- he dozes off, snoring away his worries.

* * *

End of Chapter 6.

Thank you so much again guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please R&R and let me know if this is still interesting. I apologize for not posting a whole bunch- but like I said earlier- school's being a bitch. Love ya and hopefully you'll continue to read these useless chapters!

~BushidoMarimo 0 3 0


	7. Waking and More Marines?

Welp! Here I am, back from the dead. Not too exciting but whatever D;  
Thanks to those that still stick around and welcome to those that have just begun to read this crappy story! Uhh, light warning, slight ZoNa is found in this chapter. To be quite honest, I'm thinking of making it a thing later on in the story. Should I? Just PM me or review to let me know! Don't forget to re-read last chapter to remember and understand what's happening in this one! Love ya 3

NOW LET THE CHAPTER (THAT'S SHORT AS HELL) BEGIN!

* * *

Not much later, Zoro opened his eyes to find himself staring at a familiar ceiling. _How did I-_. Zoro's eye widens and he sits up immediately and grabs the bucket next to him. He retches a couple of times before actually throwing up.

"Gah... _huff! Huff…_ "

Zoro looks at the contents in the bucket, multiple pieces of soaked cloth, blood, the orange pus, and of course the newly added content of his vomit. All of it mixes together to create a wonderfully disgusting smell of acid and blood. _What happened? How did I get here?_ He swings his legs over the infirmary bed and drops both of his legs down. The burning of his stomach had grown to his chest, but instead of it being sharp, it had died down to a dull fiery ache.

"Ch-chop...Chopper. _Huff koff._ " Zoro sinks back into the infirmary bed and closes his eyes. _It's alright if I get some more rest._

 _._

 _._

 _._

" _HUFF HUFF_! Vice Admiral Aamia! We've found something we believe might interest you."

A marine cadet stumbles through large doors that lead to a private chamber. In the middle of the room of darkness, a single spotlight revealed a tan skinned woman with black hair and blood red highlights. Her lime green eyes perk up at the sound of the cadet's voice and her back straightens in her throne.

"Oh yeah? What have you found Cadet Baruch?" Vice Admiral Aamia's legs sway back and forth while she nonchalantly continues to chew her gum.

"W-well, we believe that this might be from _the one_ , we located their ship off to the side of the island."

"Ara? How... _unfortunate_. Out of all the islands they could have gone to, they come to this one? Man, and I thought that we were safe for our...experimentation. AAAAANYWAAAYSSSS, lemme smell, erm… I mean see the item."

The cadet holds up a familiar black cloth, soaked through the cloth was a red substance...blood. Aamia snatches the cloth out of his hand and holds it up to her nose. She inhales for a long time, taking in the scent of the blood and the lingering smell of sweat. Aamia licks her canine teeth and grins. The cadet shivers with fear before quietly making his exit.

"Gotcha...Roronoa Zoro! My nose is absolute, and it's telling me to look your way! Soon, but not yet, I will make you mine!" Aamia spins in her throne to look at the wall behind her which is covered by a familiar bounty poster with a very familiar green headed man. She dashes towards the poster and traces her hand over his face before giving it a quick peck.

.

.

.

"AHHH!" Zoro sits up for the second time during his infirmary room visit, a cold shiver wracks his spine and causes Zoro to feel nauseous. _What the hell was that feeling?!_

"UWAH!" Something squeals before bumping into a shelf which causes multiple bottles shatter on the floor. Zoro turns around to see none other than their red-haired navigator.

"Z-Zoro! You're awake!" she all but yells at him. Zoro winces at her booming voice, it echoes in his head causing it to throb.

"W-witch, can you be any louder?!" Zoro scowls at her before noticing that her eyes have water welling up while the corners of her mouth pull to a sad frown.

"O-oi. That's not what I-" She runs and practically tackles him back onto the infirmary bed, squeezing Zoro into a very uncomfortable hug. _Huh? What do I do?_ She looks up from the awkward hug and Zoro watches her tears fall.

"Y-you IDIOT!" she exclaims as she gives him a nice whack to the head. He looks back up at her, rubbing the spot where she just punched him with a confused look plastered on his face.

"What is it woman? What did I do _this_ time?" She looks at him unbelievingly, _is he really that dense?_

"What did you do? What did you do?! Y-you should know exactly what you did! Why didn't you tell me you got stabbed?! You collapsed in the m-men's quarters and Sanji almost busted the door down cuz you locked it! Then we found you in a b-bloody fucking puddle and unresponsive! Chopper and Sanji carried you here and l-looked at your wound, it was DISGUSTING. YOU HAD A FUCKING WORM THE SIZE OF THE HOLE IN YOUR LEG. I HAD TO PULL IT OUT AND-"

Zoro put a finger to her lips and covered his mouth with his other hand as his eye closed and his head fell forward.

"Wait, you don't need to continue, my stomach is pretty weak right now and I don't need a mental image. I understand, it was terrible and I shoulda told you. I just didn't want you to freak out and I didn't think it was that big of a deal." Nami slapped his finger off of her mouth.

"NO! You don't get it! Zoro it _burrowed_ in your leg! If you let it continue like that without telling anyone you could have...you could have..!"

"Died?" His grey eye met her caramel colored ones. He had a solemn look on his face. _I can't even imagine what the witch went through. That must've been one gnarly wound. Wait. My wound._ Zoro goes to move Nami off to the side while he lifts his leg back onto the infirmary bed and begins to unwrap the bandages that started at his ankle up to the bottom of his kneecap. The wound seemed a little better, the bleeding wasn't as bad as before and the grayness of his leg had died down to staying around his wound instead of traveling up his calf. The only problem was that he still had a fairly large hole in his calf. It was around the size of a golf ball.

"It looks as though it's gotten better, "

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"M'kay, help me up, I wanna go outside."

"Uh, hell no. You've got a hole in your leg, now you're gonna stay here until Chopper says you can leave."

"Well then go get Chopper, I wanna get out. I hate this place."

"I don't think so. What if something happens again?"

Zoro stops pestering her at this moment to pull Nami back into a hug and whispers in her ear:

"It won't."

Apparently this was enough for Nami because her face turned beet red as she abruptly stood up and opened the door.

"Uh, yeah, I'll go get Chopper for you."

Zoro grins and snickers to himself as he watches the flustered navigator leave. _Plan: "get the witch flustered enough to leave" was a success, and now to move into the final phase: "getting out of this hell hole infirmary"._

Zoro once again swings his leg off of the infirmary bed and works to stand up. Unfortunately, having a hole in your leg can damage you quite a bit it would seem. Zoro's right leg begins to shake as soon as he stands and his leg quickly buckles out from under him. Thankfully, he could catch himself by holding onto Chopper's desk before he face planted.

"Oh yeah, this'll take some time."

* * *

Thanks again for reading this chapter! Sorry it's so short! I hope you at least _kinda_ liked it! Let me know if I should keep going or give up on this story if you guys are still out there!  
Hopefully I can post a new chapter by next week Sunday!


	8. Snatched

**Well! Just as I promised! Here's another chapter. I hope it fits to your liking ;)**

 **With these words I state that I own none of these characters, I also declare that Chapter 8 BEGINS!**

.

.

.

In no time at all, Zoro had figured out a way of walking...of course, it's not necessarily the way that he _wanted_.

* * *

Once Zoro got up earlier he immediately shambled towards the door while gripping onto the walls of the infirmary. His right leg throbbed as a silent reminder of his latest injury. _This isn't too bad. There was the time where those other bounty hunters broke my leg to prevent a kill and I had to walk around looking for a doctor._ (Then again, the doctor was actually two buildings away from the area where the bounty hunters had jumped him, it's just that he got too lost to find it and wasted an entire day shambling around on a broken leg) He had finally reached the doorknob, and when he twisted it and pushed the door open, he saw the glaring sunlight hit his eye and he instinctively squinted. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins to get out of that ungodly prison and onto the nice green grass. Which surprisingly was coming towards his face very quickly.

"GAH!" Was all Zoro could muster before face planting onto the deck of the Sunny. Immediately, the sound had attracted the other Straw Hats to see what the " _thud_ " and commotion was all about.

"ZOOOOOOOORROOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Zoro looked up a fraction from his current state on the ground to see a red blob sprinting at full speed towards him. It only took less than a second for Zoro to realize that it was his overly enthusiastic captain, and that he was ultimately screwed. Zoro felt two slender arms roll him over onto his back to see Luffy's face no less than an inch away from his. Luffy's black eyes bore into his grey one and Zoro instantly felt uncomfortable.

"Yo, captain."

"ZORO! WHAT'RE YOU DOING OUT OF BED?!"

"ZORO! GET YOUR ASS BACK IN THERE!"

"Ah! Zoro-san! I have prepared a new piece while the operation took place, it's called- "

"OW! Zoro-bro! How's your leg?!"

"Huh?! The idiot Marimo is up already?!"

"So it would seem Sanji, and he looks much better than before."

"U-u-uhhh Zoro? Are you sure you're okay? I saw the worm, it was HORRENDOUS!"

Zoro grit his teeth and pushed Luffy off of him to stare back at his crew members. All of their gazes met his one eye, and it felt kind of weird to be the center of attention, but since he did have their attention, he was going to answer to their questions or comments.

" _Ahem_ , I'm out of bed cuz I hate it in there, no I'm not going to "get my ass back in there", Brook, that sounds interesting I guess, my leg is doing... _meh_ , yes perverted troll I am up already, yes Robin I'm sure I look better than before, and yes that worm did sound horrendous."

Zoro let out a puff of air as he pushed himself to slump against the outer wall of the infirmary. He put his left leg up towards his chest and rested his left arm there as he let his injured leg stretch out on the ground. He rose his head to look at the crew.

"Anything else?" That one comment caused an uproar from Chopper and Nami, screaming about how he definitely was _NOT_ better and how he needed to go back into the infirmary and rest more. Of course, Zoro didn't listen to it, all the words went in one ear and out the other, they didn't have time to filter through his brain (or at least what little he had left according to most of the crew).

"..re you...listen...he...he..y...HEY! HEY! ZORO?! ARE YOU LISTENING?!"

Zoro turned back towards the upset navigator and gave her a very short answer. His mouth hung a little slack as his eyelid droops a little,

"Huh?"

Nami's face immediately turned red as her eyebrows pulled to the middle of her forehead and her breaths began to get faster and heavier. Everyone else in the crew took it as their time to go while Chopper stayed. Chopper noticed that this emotion that hung in the air was getting heavier and stronger by the second, so he immediately turned into heavy point and went to restrain their upset and steadily getting more upset navigator.

"NAMI! YOU WILL NOT HURT MY PATIENT!"

"WELL I OUGHTA! AFTER THAT STUNT HE JUST PULLED I OUGHTA KICK HIS ASS BACK INTO THE INFIRMARY!"

"THEN LET'S WORK TOGETHER TO GET HIM _IN_ THE INFIRMARY!"

Zoro was now listening very intently to their conversation and by any means did _not_ like it. He attempted to crawl towards one of the white railings. Zoro was just about to grab the railing before he heard, well more of _felt_ both Nami and Chopper turn towards him. A dark aura began to grow off of both of them, he broke out into a cold sweat. With each footstep of both Nami and Chopper, Zoro scooted further down the deck of the Sunny before he hit the staircase and realized there was nowhere left for him to go. He flinched as They both grabbed him by the arms and started to drag his body back to the infirmary, of course, not without Nami giving him a good punch to the head. Zoro jutt out his bottom lip and narrowed his eye as he was dragged back, sulking like a child.

"Zoro, you _need_ to stay inside and recover. You cannot go outside right now." Chopper said sternly. Zoro sighed, he didn't want to do this, but he had to in order to get out.

"But Chopper, I have the best doctor in the world to take care of me." The effect was immediate and sent Chopper into his typical dance. Nami got frustrated at this and intervened.

"CHOPPER! FOCUS! He's trying to make you allow him to leave!"

"AHHHH! ZORO! HOW MEAN!"

Zoro could have face palmed at this point, but he knew it would only make things worse, so instead, he just sighed.

"Look, you both know I hate this place and I want to just be outside. Just let me go!...please…" Zoro mumbled the last part under his breath as a slightly red blush overcame his features. Nami's jaw dropped at the "please" he muttered, but then it turned into a smirk.

"Well, when you put it like that, I guess we _could_ find an alternative. See Zoro? Using your manners isn't so bad after all."

"NAMI- BUT- YOU SAID- " Chopper stammers as he's trying to understand whether or not Zoro should be able to leave.

* * *

And now, he was here. The unanimous decision with the crew (yes the crew _voted_ on this matter) was that Zoro would have to be confined to crutches. Sanji sure got a laugh out of it, from time to time calling him names. There were multiple instances that Sanji had to leave the room because of Zoro's awkward walking with the crutches.

"This is fucking STUPID!" Zoro hadn't even had the crutches for an hour and he had already given up. He sulked away towards the men's room and headed towards his own bunk where he laid the crutches down on the floor. Zoro crashed into his hammock and began to settle into the cushion before he heard a voice.

"Ara? Here already? That was quick."

Zoro bolted up from his hammock and immediately hit his forehead on the frame above him. He whipped his head around, not paying attention to the slight itch that had formed above his brows. The voice was obviously feminine, but in the darkness of the men's quarters at the moment he couldn't see her. However, he could _sense_ her.

"Oi, show yourself woman. Who are you? Why are you here?" Zoro went to grab his swords before cursing to himself. _Damn, I can't believe I let Chopper confiscate my swords. This isn't good._

The woman stepped towards Zoro's bunk, her green eyes flashed through the dark.

"Now now, is that any way to talk to one of your _biggest_ fans Roronoa Zoro?" she took another step forward and Zoro could see that she was wearing a Marine cape, one that mimicked the others that Zoro had only seen upper ranking officers wearing. _Great, this has gotten even worse...now the Marines are involved? I've got to tell the others._ Zoro immediately stood up, instantly regretting that he did it so quickly. He winced and clutched onto Luffy's bunk to keep him up. _I need to get to the door._

Zoro glanced towards the door, determining that it was around ten feet from him, he could make it easily, but with an injured leg, it would be more difficult. He grit his teeth as he realized that he would injure his leg further, but nonetheless, he had to warn them of this threat. Zoro planted his left leg in front of him and briskly pushed off the floor, propelling his body towards the door. In a flash, he was at the door, he slammed into it, causing the door to knock off of its hinges and immediately went into a tuck and roll. He lifted his head to yell at his crewmates, but before he could even speak the first syllable, she was there. Something tugged the back of his shirt as a hand wrapped a cloth around his mouth. His right arm had been pulled behind his back, and a knee had dug into it, making sure he was pinned. _Just...DON'T...BREATHE!_ It didn't last very long, as Zoro had to go for a breath, and with the traded inhale of oxygen, he also got a dosage of chloroform. The effect was immediate.

Just as Zoro's vision began to fade and his body relax, he saw a blur of black and red moving quickly towards him. _Well...shit…._ It was his last thought before his vision went dark.

* * *

"ZORO!" Luffy screamed as he watched his swordsman fall limp. The woman holding up Zoro's deadweight smirked as she watched Luffy and Sanji sprint towards her. In an instant, she stood up and tucked Zoro underneath her arm so that she was carrying him. Desperate thoughts shot through Luffy's head as he envisioned Sabaody Archipelago with Zoro and Kuma. _NO! NOT TODAY! PLEASE NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!_

The desperation never left his eyes as he shot his hand forward in a frantic attempt to grab their... _HIS_ swordsman, only to fall short and grab his bandana tied around his arm. The woman took this chance as Luffy began to fall forward and quickly jumped into the brush of the unforgiving island taunting both of them by sticking her tongue out as she retreated into the woods.

Luffy's arm retracted as he sat on his knees on the grassy deck. His heart began to beat fast as he registered the event that had just occurred. For the first time in a while, Luffy was afraid. His head dropped to the deck as he clawed at the grass. The commotion called out the other Straw Hats to their captain on the ground. Nami walked towards Luffy, her hands shaking from the desperate scream she had heard him yell.

"Luffy? What happened?"

The only reply she got was the slight sound of a whimper before she heard Luffy's panicked breathing. He looked up and grasped her arm, and Nami gasped. In his eyes, she saw raw fear, his eyes etched into her memory as she broke from his gasp.

"He...he's gone!..." Luffy finally mustered. Realization hit Nami like a slap to the face, her eyes widened a fraction.

"Nami...I saw it again! It was Sabaody Archipelago all over again! Z-zoro tumbled out of the room and I saw him Nami, something was _wrong_ but I didn't know what! I couldn't do it! I couldn't get him back! She _stole_ him Nami! He's gone! He's gone! He's gone!" Luffy's voice escalated louder and louder to the point that he was screaming. Nami took a step back as she saw the wild look in his eyes and the desperation...but what really stuck with her was the fear that was etched into his face.

"Luffy, it's not your fault okay? Hey...HEY! LUFFY! IT'S OKAY! WE JUST HAVE TO GET HIM BACK!" Nami gripped Luffy's shoulders in an attempt to give her captain something to grasp onto mentally. Luffy's panicked breathing slowed a bit so he wasn't hyperventilating. Nami and the rest of the crew watched as his face of fear quickly disintegrated into a face of raw fury. He stood up slowly, bringing Nami back up with him. Luffy turned towards his crew and simply said,

"Oi. It's time to go."

* * *

 **BM: OOOOH! Cliffhanger! I hope y'all liked the chapter, make sure to R &R!**

 **Zoro: Listen here you dim-witted half-assed writer! I WOULD NOT PASS OUT FROM THAT STUPID CLOTH!**

 **BM: Yeah yeah, shut up. It's my story, so I get to do whatever I want, got it?!**

 **Zoro: Hou? Is that so?**

 **BM: AGH! DON'T POINT THOSE SWORDS AT ME THAT'S RUDE! Uhhh, see you guys next chapter!**

 **Zoro: OI! COME BACK HERE YOU!**


End file.
